


Focus on the Happy

by Cee693



Series: Westallen Wedding [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Comfort, Family, Grandma knows best, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 03:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12379548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cee693/pseuds/Cee693
Summary: Iris tries to overcome one last obstacle before her big day and finds her grandmother to lean on when it doesn't go as planned.





	Focus on the Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Random, unedited 12 a.m. ramblings from me being in my head about Grandma Esther deserving to see her granddaughter well and married without nazi aliens interrupting the festivities.

Iris West was a woman on a mission.

She had spent the last month trying to come up with a classy, feasible seating arrangement for an entire cathedral.

She'd gone through hundreds of Pinterest boards, called three different wedding planners for consultations, and looked up more church interior design tutorials on YouTube than she'd ever thought she'd have to in her life.

But, two weeks to their big day, she still had nothing.

Iris was trying to find a way to get rid of the aisle running down the middle of the church, so that all of their guests would be sitting in one collective area, not split by affiliation to the bride and groom.

Every design Iris had looked up was either impossible for their big space or extremely messy.

"Iris, you've been at this for weeks now," Barry reprimanded when he'd found her sleeping on the kitchen counter one morning with a floor plan spread out in front of her.

"I don't think it's gonna work out the way you want it to. What's the problem with the way the church is right now anyway? I think it's beautiful the way it looks," Barry told her.

"It is beautiful, but it's not perfect," Iris said.

She hadn't told him why exactly she didn't want a traditional aisle for the wedding. 

She hadn't told anyone. 

She didn't want to make Barry feel a certain type of way.

Iris finally came clean to her father when he'd walked in on her sniffling over her wedding binder two days before the big day. 

"I've been to enough weddings where people have tried to kill the whole 'pick a side' tradition to know that guests are gonna do it anyway," Iris confessed. "I just don't want Barry to feel bad when he looks at his side and sees he doesn't have a single family member there."

"Baby, Barry has an entire army of friends coming literally from all across the multiverse. He'll have his people there for him," Joe assured her.

"I know he has friends coming for him, but it's not the same, dad. He deserved to have some of his family there too," Iris cried. "Henry should be there. Nora should be there. He should have family who've known him all his life and who get to see the amazing man he became."

Joe couldn't argue with that. Barry _did_ deserve that. Everyone did.

"Oh, baby," Joe comforted. "It'll be alright, I promise. You don't have to redesign an entire church for him. Saturday is going to be the happiest day of Barry's life. No matter who's there. I promise."

Iris didn't look entirely convinced to drop her quest so Joe said the one thing he knew would pull her right out of her funk.

"Grandma's plane should be landing soon."

_______________________________________________

Besides Barry, Grandma Esther was the best part of Iris' childhood.

Iris vividly remembered the long summers she spent running around the countryside, picking wildflowers from her grandmother's garden, eating her fill of the most comforting comfort food on earth.

She remembered the hours she used to spend with her cousins out on the lake behind the house. Iris remembered exploring the woods alone and then she remembered when Barry joined right alongside her.

Grandma Esther had been the first member of the extended West family to welcome Barry into the family.

His first Christmas with them, she'd sent Barry a care package so heavy, he literally couldn’t wrap his arms around it.

She always made sure there was a place for him at every family function and she was quick to talk to her son whenever she saw him being a little too hard on Barry when he started his tales about what really happened to his mother.

It was no secret grandma Esther had a serious soft spot for Barry. Not that she'd be too quick to admit it, mind you.

"Look at you, Bartholomew," she smiled, reaching up to pat Barry's cheek after he gave her a hug at her terminal. "You get taller every time I see you."

In all his time with them, Grandma Esther never called Barry by his nickname.

She always said that, for her, the name Barry conjured up an image of a soulful jazz singer and not a tiny, green-eyed boy who tripped over himself rambling off science facts and who always tried to finesse Mac and cheese for breakfast.

"His momma named him Bartholomew, so I'm gonna call him Bartholomew," she'd said more times than Iris could count.

Barry never seemed to mind, though. She never said it in a reprimanding type of way. With her it was just his name.

He was always at ease when Esther was around. There was something just innately calming and comforting about her.

"How was your flight?" Barry inquired as he grabbed her bags and led her to Iris' car.

She didn't know about his... abilities. They all thought it would be easier on her if she didn't.

"It was alright," she said. "Would've been a lot better if they'd offered me a glass of wine."

Barry laughed.

He'd definitely missed her. 

The two spent the short cat ride to the apartment catching up and going over the pre-wedding schedule for the next few days.

A few of Iris' cousins who'd driven down earlier were already at the apartment with Iris waiting for their grandmother to join them for dinner.

When Grandma Esther entered the loft, she was greeted by the usual big swell of affection and greetings, the most coming from Iris who hadn't seen her grandmother in ages.

When Iris excitedly hurried away to put the final touches on the dining room table, Grandma Esther pulled Barry aside. "I wanted to give you something before all the madness of the wedding picked up," she said lowly.

She carefully unwrapped the small package in her hand and revealed a beautiful, teal silk fabric.

"This was Iris' grandfather's favorite pocket square," Grandma Esther revealed wistfully. She ran a gentle hand over it before handing it to him carefully.

"There's no rule that the groom can't get something old or something blue," Grandma Esther said matter-of-factly.

"Thank you!" Barry smiled, touched by the gesture. "This means a lot, really."

Barry had never met Iris' grandfather, but if he searched his memory hard enough to before they'd become friends, he could remember catching glimpses of a jovial, gray-haired man who used to shoot the breeze with the custodians and crossing guards while he waited for Iris in the school yard.

Between all the fond stories from Joe and Grandma Esther herself, Barry knew how loved the West family patriarch had been.

And he knew what it meant for Esther to give away one of her late husband's keepsakes.

"You're very welcome," Grandma Esther patted his cheek affectionately.

"Now where's dinner?" she asked all of a sudden, switching right back to the no nonsense tone she was so known for.

She pulled Barry towards the kitchen. "Iris told me you cooked one of my recipes for tonight yourself."

"It'd be very uncouth of you to give me food poisoning right before my grandbaby's wedding, Bartholomew," she warned over her shoulder.

Barry blushed deeply when a few of Iris' cousins started to laugh and he quickly hustled after her.

_______________________________________________

Their wedding arrived on the heels of days filled with laughter and joy.

Iris' family was huge. And they were as close-knit as they come.

Barry fell into his usual pace of just trying to keep up with all of them and Iris tried to soak up every moment she could with aunts, uncles, cousins and her beloved grandmother.

Iris didn't bring up the seating arrangements again. 

She knew it just couldn't be done.

She was so happy to be surrounded by her family, but there was a tiny part of her that kept getting beaten down every time she remembered Barry couldn’t have the same.

She was thinking about that as she put the final touches on her dress while she waited for the cue the ceremony was going to start.

"In all my years, I have never seen a more beautiful bride."

Iris got a little misty-eyed when she turned and saw her grandmother standing by the door, a hand over her heart.

She felt her heart swell with affection. It always did when her grandma was around.

Iris knew she owed so much of this moment to her.

If there was any ounce of courage or an indomitable will in Iris, it all came from the woman standing before her.

"I doubt I come close to you," Iris returned.

Grandma Esther guffawed and waved Iris off.

"Your daddy told me what's been bothering you," Grandma Esther revealed quietly.

Iris sighed. Of course her grandma knew exactly what she was thinking about. 

"I know it may seem silly in the scheme of things, but it's something that meant a lot to me," she shrugged. "I just wanted everything to be perfect for him."

Grandma Esther chuckled, breathless. "I hope you didn't forget that the first time I met Bartholomew was at your third grade Christmas show for all the families. And that he was on stage, wearing a glitter tutu, the two of you prancing across stage as if you didn't have a care in the world," Grandma Esther reminded her.

Iris gasped and laughed. "Ohh. I haven't thought about that show in _years_ ," Iris told her.

Grandma Esther laughed too, shaking her head at the memory. "And when I pulled you aside after and asked why the teachers made that poor boy dress up in a tutu knowing how cruel kids could be, you remember what you told me?"

"Hannah D'Agostino had broken out in chicken pox literally ten minutes before we were supposed to go on," Iris recounted dreamily. "And without her as my partner I would've had to sing with the choir in the back so that I wasn't dancing alone."

"And you'd cried until Bartholomew stepped up and convinced the teachers to let him dance with you cause you'd worked so hard to get all the steps perfect," Grandma Esther finished.

"Barry had let me do the dance for him so many times at recess, he'd memorized it too," Iris grinned. “They said he didn’t have to wear a tutu, but he put one on over his suit because he wanted us to match."

"And you know no one ever laughed at him for it. I mean Barry was teased in school, of course, but not for that," Iris told her. "He was never teased for that."

"Because he was happy doing it," Grandma Esther said firmly. "Anyone and everyone could see Bartholomew was happy because he'd made you happy. He's always happiest when he's making you happy. So focus on the happy, baby. Not the pain of the past. It'll steal your joy every time."

Iris nodded tearfully. 

She knew everything her grandma said about Barry was true. 

Iris lived it every day.

And in her mind, she caught a glimpse of Henry and Nora in the audience that day, their eyebrows furrowed in pure confusion and surprise, their mouths holding such wide grins.

They’d cheered and whistled the loudest when Barry and Iris took their bows.

Iris dove into her grandmother's arms, praying that she could somehow feel all of the love and gratitude Iris couldn't put into words.

Esther kissed her cheek before pulling back and looking at her, Iris swore she could.

"Now on to more important matters," Grandma Esther wiped Iris' eyes and settled into a nearby chair. "About that honeymoon..."

And Iris West spent her last few minutes as a single woman sputtering indignantly and trying to cool her burning hot face as her 83 year old grandmother told her things that would make Cosmo magazine wither with blush.

And later, during the ceremony when Iris found the will to pull her eyes away from Barry's long enough to take in the sight around her, she saw her grandmother sitting front and center on the right side of the church.

Her back was straightened with pride and her eyes shined with joy and love.

And Iris felt herself blown away, for the thousandth time in her life, by her grandmother's heart.

"Thank you so much, grandma," Iris said as she hugged her tightly during the reception. "You didn't have to do that."

Grandma Esther waved off Iris' gratitude.

"I mean it," Iris insisted. "And even though he wasn't dwelling on that today, it meant the world to Barry that you sat for him."

During her dress change, Linda told Iris Barry had interrupted his walk to the alter and hugged Grandma Esther tight when he saw her sitting there.

"Sweet pea, Bartholomew is as much our family as you and Wally are," Esther said sincerely. "He's been right there with you and your daddy for every family reunion, every barbecue, every christening, every graduation, every wedding in the last 18 years. Hell, I've gotten more just-because-I-felt-like-it calls and emails from him over the years than most of your cousins. And some of your aunts and uncles if I'm being honest. When he was in high school, he used to come up every fall at first frost and chop firewood for me. You remember that? Used to pile it so high, I couldn't reach the top without a stepper. He's done that most winters since. He treats you better than I could’ve ever asked of him. And he's never _once_ complained about my chicken," Grandma Esther finished, peering at Iris knowingly.

"So you don't have to thank me for anything. I was just doing what family does best. Making a happy moment even happier," Grandma Esther winked.

She patted Iris' arm and stood. "Now you'll have to excuse me, I want to share a dance with your husband. You know Grandma didn't get this dolled-up and put on this extra special dress just to hide off in the corner all night."

She gave Iris a slow twirl, showing of her shimmering blue dress before she shuffled off in search of a dance partner.

"Ayesha just told me your grandma spiked the lemonade earlier," Barry informed her when Iris made her way back to their table.

"There's a champagne fountain not even a two feet away!" Iris exclaimed in disbelief.

Barry laughed and shrugged, at a loss as well.

Iris shook her head and chuckled under her breath. "Never a dull moment with her."

They both looked out on the dance floor and took a mental picture of the sheer perfection of the moment.

"I still can't believe we're married," Barry admitted, somewhat dazed. 

"Is it everything you dreamed of?" Iris teased, nudging his hip with hers.

Barry grinned bashfully.

During the last few months, as they brainstormed and discussed venues and cakes and such, it became _very_ obvious to Iris that Barry had been low-key planning their wedding for years.

Not that he even denied it when she finally asked him.

Barry looked around at all the people in the big hall. And he thought about the bonds he shared with all of them- some old, some new. Some small, some made of stone.

"I never thought I'd have so much of my family here me today," Barry revealed honestly. Iris sighed in relief and swallowed the lump in her throat. She kissed the back of his hand "And you know it's all because of you."

Iris furrowed her brow. "I didn't do anything," she reminded him.

"It _all_ started because of you," Barry told her sincerly. "After my mom died, there wouldn't have been a single moment in my life that could've led me to this moment if it hadn't been for you."

Iris started to disagree, so Barry pulled her close, kissing her so sweetly and softly, she forgot what they'd been talking about.

Grandma Esther eventually did steal Barry on the dance floor, after she'd danced to her content with Cisco and Captain Singh of all people.

Barry towered a full foot over her and she kept cuffing him softly on the chest when his two left feet kept cutting in, but they were both smiling wide and they looked to be deep in conversation, like two old friends.

And watching them side by side, Iris realized for the first time that day that Grandma Esther's blue dress matched Barry's blue pocket square perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty sure it's cannon Grandma Esther is Iris' *great*grandmother, but in my head she's still alive and sprightly so she's her grandma here.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
